Gone
by Jess Idres
Summary: Bennet finds Zeta, alone and shell shocked. Ro is no where to be found. Can he come to terms with an electronic soul? And can Zeta survive his personal lesson in anger? FINISHED.
1. Default Chapter

After getting writers' block and needing to procrastinate, I began writing this tiny ficlet. I don't know if I'll write any chapters after this- I'll let you decide (hint: comment!). *WARNING*: this is a very depressing storyline. Not suggested for the easily depressible.  
  
Gone By Jessica Idres Rate PG-13 for language, themes  
  
They had been chasing them so long now, he mused, that they had formed an odd sort of bond between them. Each party knew the other group in their encounters- which sometimes would be day after day, other times after a few weeks, but they always knew what went on between each other. If they hadn't been chasing after the fugitives for so long, Bennet would have thought they almost looked out for each other. In an odd, twisted way. None of the agents expected to find the situation before them now.  
  
They had been investigating the last known sighting of the synthoid and his human friend when they found him. He was sitting in an alley, not really trying to hide. Even as Bennet drew his blaster and stepped closer, the synthoid, wrapped in his familiar hologram, took no notice. He stared at the wall in front of him, rocking slowly in drizzle, reminding Bennet of some of the war veterans he had seen on the streets, broken from what they had seen. Only as he stepped closer did he hear what Zeta was repeating over and over, like a skipping CD.  
  
"Gone. She's gone. Gone, gone, gone." Even as Bennet leaned in to listen to him, Zeta's wide soulless eyes never saw him.  
  
Bennet had no idea what he was jabbering about. "I need back up over here. I've found the synthoid, but." How could he describe the scene in front of him? This was a robot, not a human. But he seemed to be in shock, a very human emotion.  
  
West looked at Zeta, poking at him to get a reaction. "What's up with him?"  
  
"You think I know?!" Bennet snapped. "He just sits there, saying the same thing over and over again."  
  
Rush entered the alley with her group of agents. "What's he mumbling about?"  
  
Bennet shrugged. "He just repeats the word 'Gone'. Nothing else-" A terrible, terrible thought ran through Bennet's mind. He wasn't a very caring man, but as he knew, these fugitives were no longer just objects to him. He bent down and shook the synthoid by the shoulders. "Zeta! Where is Rosalie Rowan?"  
  
At the mention of his accomplice, Zeta focused on the agents face. The extreme sorrow in those holographic eyes made even the veteran wince. "I don't know. One minute she was with me in the hotel, next, she was gone. Looked all over for her. No note, no nothing." If he could, he would probably be hysterical.  
  
Then, in a blink of an instant, the synthoid recognized the Agent in front of him. A twisted mask of hatred and rage flickered onto the hologram, and Zeta grabbed Bennet by the neck. "You took her, didn't you! What have you done with her?!"  
  
Every agent immediately tried to pull Zeta off him, but to no avail. "Zeta, please! This won't help! We didn't take her!" He looked into those false, wild blue eyes. "We still have some dignity."  
  
The hatred and rage faded, replaced with- could it be shame? Zeta put the agent down, and curled into a ball. "I'm sorry." He whispered, but still audible to the senior agent. The synthoid then raised his arms, his hands hanging loose. "Aren't you going to arrest me?"  
  
Bennet quirked an eyebrow. "Giving up so easily? You've faced worse odds before and still attempted escape."  
  
Zeta didn't look at the agent, as his hologram flickered off. "Those times were different, I-" He paused, and Agent Bennet wondered if he would be crying now, if he could- "had someone to escape back to. Not now."  
  
Bennet had no choice. Slowly, almost with complete regret, he placed handcuffs on Zeta. As the synthoid stood, Bennet caught sight of something that he knew was impossible, and could only blame on the rain.  
  
But he swore he saw tears streaming from the synthoid's eyes. 


	2. I love her smile

"What's wrong, sir? We won. You should be happy." Agent Rush looked over to her superior, who sat with an obvious cloud of unhappiness. "Don't tell me the synthoid got to you. It would have lost her anyways when we caught it."  
  
Bennet didn't look up, "I'm..not sure. But the disappearance of Ms. Rowan does worry me." He sighed into his folded hands.  
  
Rush shrugged. "Maybe she got tired of running."  
  
Bennet glared at the female agent. "I highly doubt that. If you had been a little more observant, you would have noticed that the girl wasn't just in it for the fun of it. Something serious must have happened to her in order for her to leave his side."  
  
"Did you just call it a 'he'? You sound like Agent Lee."  
  
Bennet glanced up at nothing in particular, not willing to meet her gaze. "Yes, I suppose I did. If I was a little more open minded, I'd even say those two were like Yin and a Yang to each other." Different, but ever joined together, like complimenting opposites. He noticed Agent West walk into the front of the vehicle, holding something. "West, what do have the synthoid's gun and cutting blades? You do realize you've damaged government property?"  
  
West scratched his head, trying to think of the right response. "Sir, I know you won't believe me, but I had to take them away from Zeta. He, uh."  
  
"Spit it out, West."  
  
West looked down at his shuffling feet. "Zeta tried to destroy himself, sir. I had to take them away."  
  
Bennet didn't say anything, but stared at the younger agent solemnly. Zeta wasn't just bucking his programming, he had lost all reason.  
  
Rush missed the look on Bennet's face. "Huh. A suicidal robot. Who would have thought?"  
  
Bennet glared at her, but before he could say anything, West snapped. "That was out of line." And he climbed back towards the holding cells.  
  
As Rush sat speechless, Bennet watched West leave with new respect. Maybe he wasn't so thickheaded after all.  
  
The darkness, after West had left, was comforting. If the agent hadn't taken his weapons away, he might enjoy it forever, without having to remember how alone he was now.  
  
His systems threatened to seize again at that point, as they had in the alleyway. 2 days without seeing her or hearing from her seemed like eternity for him. Had she really just gotten tired of running, as Agent Rush had said? But she would have told him. She would have made it clear- Ro spoke her mind.  
  
He spent the first day waiting for her to return- then for a word for anyone who might have wanted to take her. Twenty four hours later, he went out to find her. But there was no sign of Rosalie Rowan- no trace of her. He even snuck into the local police station to look through the holding cells- and the morgue. He was relieved when he had checked every last container- he was quite sure his titanium heart wouldn't have held out at the sight. But she was gone still, gone without a trace.  
  
He wasn't sure exactly when his system shut down, but it had been soon after that-as he had sat it the rain some poetical program in his CPU wondered if the world was crying for his lost Rosalie.  
  
Now- well, now everything was pointless. There was no hope, no love that could penetrate the ones and zeros of his mind to change his fate, except for his half hearted attempt to destroy himself. But soon, soon they would wipe it all away, and it in all human sense he would be dead. No more memories, no more compassions, no more love-  
  
His programming ground to a halt again, and the synthoid quietly rocked in his misery.  
  
West noticed that Zeta had gone back into the programming loop the corner of his cell. The agent sat down quietly in an empty guard chair, looking away from the synthoid. Several minutes past of total silence, before West could breathe out his question.  
  
"What do you like the most about Ro?"  
  
The synthoid didn't answer, but the sound of rocking ceased.  
  
"The thing I always like best about Lee was the fact that she looked past my mistakes. She put me first, not the mission. I always expected me to be the first to go, not her. But it doesn't mean I have to forget her. She even still writes to me sometimes. I know it's different in your case, but-"  
  
"I preferred. liked her smile. Not the sarcastic one she showed everyone, but the one when she was genuinely happy. She only did it a few times, mostly when we were alone, but it was worth it. I irrationally thought it was a smile just for me." The synthoid didn't look at the agent, and the words were low, as if more for himself.  
  
"It's not irrational. Maybe it was just for you."  
  
The synthoid let out what sounded distinctly like a metallic sigh. "Maybe. It was the memory I preferred to play back again when I recharged." A pause. "I miss her so much."  
  
West looked over and met those strange oval eyes. He cracked a smile. "She'll turn up yet, Zeta. And maybe this will have the fairytale ending you want."  
  
"Fairytale ending? What does that mean?"  
  
West scratched his head. "Uh, well, you know.a happy ending. Like the guy getting the girl. I mean, that's what you want, right?"  
  
Zeta processed the question. "I'm not sure. What does it mean 'to get the girl?'"  
  
"Well, err, you want spend the rest of your life with her, right?" Man, this was hard. Did Ro have to deal with this all the time?  
  
"I.yes. Yes, I do think I would like to."  
  
"That's getting the girl."  
  
"Oh. Thank you, Agent West." And the conversation lapsed into silence again, but it was a peaceful quiet as the two thought about their conversation. 


	3. A quest for the knight

I am the Holy Grail you seek,  
  
though I warn, my drink not weak,  
  
but if it knowledge that you seek,  
  
drink my drought til thy interest's peaked.  
  
But if you wish to live without my drought,  
  
for it is painful, that no doubt,  
  
be warned for it can spell your doom,  
  
like a stillborn babe in thy mother's womb. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Zeta was jarred from his resting position by a noise in front of him. A part of his internal programming was startled by the fact that he hadn't heard anything before it was right in front of him. Had he gotten that far in mimicking human behavior that he didn't notice it and had begun to simply slip into human tendencies? He was distracted from this line of thought, though, by the sight in front of him.  
  
It seemed to be a transparent figure of a woman, dressed in dazzling white and gold. Clouds of blue stars danced at her feet and head, obscuring her face. Was this an angel? His CPU must have truly shorted out.  
  
:: Shush, little one. You are not going mad, nor are you dead. But your soul screams with such anguish that I could not help but to hear. You were such an inspiration for others in your quest for a soul, and now you have thrown it all away. We give you such a gift of knowledge, little fool, and can't use it. What would Rosalie say?::  
  
Zeta looked away, but the light was seared onto his lenses. "She'd call me stupid. She'd want me free. But I can't postulate my freedom without her. Does that make me a fool?" He looked back up at the woman, and saw a smile full of pity among the stars.  
  
::You are only a fool like that depicted on the deck of cards. But now, if you try and you use your gift, you may yet become a magus. You search for the holy cup, but now your companion has become the source, you shy away from the task. Do not lose thy gift so quickly, child. For you must understand out of all, Hope is the most holy gift of all.:: And with that, she touched his metal forehead, letting her fingers pass through his metal walls and caress his soul. In that moment of touch, he was filled with images of the world as a whole, people fighting, loving, feeling. But he saw one image and focused on it with his entire soul: Rosalie, white and gaunt, but blissfully asleep, in a cold dark place. She was alive, and she needed saving.  
  
::Take care, my little knight. And may your quest bring you to the Holy Grail.:: His vision cleared as she faded away, those blue stars fading last. But they stayed in his holographic blue eyes as he stood determined, pulling back the image of the black haired companion of Ro. But now he dressed in black street armor, leathers and jeans. His face was a mask of determination.  
  
This knight was ready for war.  
  
West awoke clutching the side of his head. All he remembered was seeing the synthoid stand up suddenly and turning back on his familiar hologram. But he then remembered the dark look to him, and the strange visage of determination. He looked around to see the weapons gone, and a message cut starkly into the wall.  
  
I will find her.  
  
---------  
  
The image of the avatar is inspired from Promethea, by Alan Moore. And yes, there are going to be more allusions to the Arthurian legend of the Holy Grail. But I'm going here for the more psychological meaning behind of the legend- Man in search of the woman. I'll explain it better later.  
  
Zee in leather.. *SWOON* 


	4. I will walk the shadow of the valley of ...

Bennet was shocked when West tumbled through the doorway, blithering on about Zeta escaping. This was a robot who not two minutes before had attempted the destruction of itself, and now it had escaped? But sure enough, West spoke the truth, and the large message etched into the holding cell wall sent a shiver up the senior agent's spine.  
  
Viewing the video of the holding cells, Bennet had to admit it was in not the young agent's fault, despite his wishes otherwise. But, for some odd reason the tape began to blur, as if something had begun to emit an electromagnetic pulse at the camera. He could make out Zeta, but he seemed to be staring directly at the part of the video that was blurred beyond belief. Had something actually been there? West said he had seen nothing, but that was typical West. Then, as the EMP interference faded, Zeta had stood and restarted his hologram-but a darker, more dangerous looking being than he had ever seen the synthoid wear. Something told him this was not the quiet synthoid he had been chasing, nor was it quite the killer robot it had been; this was combination of the new and the old personalities.  
  
And this new synthoid would get Rosalie back at all costs. Even if it meant killing someone.  
  
------  
  
Zeta sat on the top of the hover bus, uncaring now if he was seen or not, reprocessing both the data that he had gathered, and the vision of Ro he had seen. He knew she was being held against her will, that much had been sure. But besides the darkness around her, he didn't have any clues to her location. But, he reasoned, if he didn't know, someone around that city were bound to.  
  
His processors were drawn back to the conversation with the divine being. She had constantly referred to his 'gift', and this confused him. Was the module in his head? That seemed unlikely. He drew up his limited knowledge of the tarot, to see if there was anything there that would answer his questions. Maybe she referred to his self-awareness. That, after all, was the underlying theme of the practice of tarot- "to know thyself."  
  
So now he was the knight. Some part of his programming wondered if he was a knight from the Tarot- Was he of the wand, the sword, the cup, or the disc? He wasn't familiar enough with the ideology to know what suited him, but he guessed he must be a knight of the cup-for the angel had equated the 'holy cup' to Ro.  
  
He again was reminded of how pale she had looked-he hoped he wasn't too late. And whoever had her would hope so too, because otherwise he'd take vengeance out on them, his vow be damned.  
  
But that line of thought was severed as the vehicle beneath him ground to a halt. He was now back and the dark and dirty city where all this madness had begun- and where it would end.  
  
------  
  
Zeta shouldn't have wasted his CPU on worrying where to start. Instead, the lead had come to him, surrounding him. They weren't Jokerz, but they weren't perfect, either.  
  
"I suggest you start handing over any valuables you might got, 'cause we going to relieve your corpse of them pretty soon." With that cue, a long knife- or was it a short sword? - was pressed against his neck.  
  
Zeta caught the arm of the wielder and positioned himself under the joints, flipping the street scum over his head. He grabbed the arm of the one rushing towards him and flung him into the crowd of others. He picked up the curved knife from the first thug, slapped it against his other hand.  
  
"Retreat! Let's get out of here!" A stocky man untangled himself from the crowd and began to back out of the alley. But Zeta wasn't finished yet.  
  
He outstretched his arm and picked up the man, bringing him back to face him. He ran the blade under the chin, letting it dance across the skin without slicing. "I'm looking for a girl." The tip rested firmly on the Adam's apple.  
  
"Look, man, we got plenty of girls around here, I mean just walk down Delancy and I'll-"  
  
"Not that type. I'm looking for this girl." He held up his hand to show a 3-d image of Ro. "And I'd like to talk to your boss about her."  
  
"Aww, man, no! He'll kill me!" The blade pressed into his skin.  
  
"Well, you have a choice. Get killed later, or be killed now."  
  
What a very simple choice.  
  
-------- The four pantheons of Tarot are as follows: The Sword: reason and intellect, The Wand: will and wisdom, The Disc (Coin, or Pentagram): Physical Existence, The Cup: Compassion. Normally, I'd think that Ro was of the Sword, but right now for this story I'm making her the Cup (for her relationship for Zee).  
  
What has this to do with Arthurian Legend? The entire quest for the Holy Grail has been argued as a demonstration of the relationships between the four houses of Tarot. It is also argued that the entire Quest is a metaphor for sex ('the heavenly cup of her thighs' and men going out to look for it with lances high. Gee, nope, no sex in there.) Don't worry, I'll get into the legend..err, next time.  
  
The confusion over if it's a knife or a sword is lifted from Appleseed, which, if looked at a certain way, contains two very similar characters (albeit older, tougher) to Ro and Zeta. 


	5. The Hanged Man means Vigilance

Part of the program that had begun running two years ago screamed this was wrong. That holding a man by his wrist, on the top of twenty story building, letting his joints separate and ignoring his shouts of pain, was wrong. But right now, that program was the farthest from his CPU.  
  
And right now, he liked the control over this scum's life. He may not be able control his fate, but he could control this worm's. ------  
  
"L-look! Man, I have no idea who you're talking about! Lemme down!" He was a minor gang lord around here. But he had connection.  
  
"Yes you do. You have a liking for young girls. You even served two years for an assault charge five years ago. That alone makes you quite a good candidate for." Zeta, who's face had been a mask of indifference, let a corner of his mouth curve, "'Street Pizza,' as you said."  
  
The wind began to pick up, blowing through non-existent raven hair and the black coat. The gang lord cried out, both in pain and defeat. "L- look, yeah, so maybe my boys picked her up for a good time. But we didn't do anything! H-honest!" He gulped back bile and saliva at the vaguely angry look on his captor's face. "Desudo wanted to see her. We owed him some favors, so we gave her to him."  
  
"Where can I find Desudo?"  
  
"I dunno! He finds us! Really!"  
  
Zeta made a point of looking down. The worm instinctively did too, but then he understood the unspoken threat. Not enough information to save him.  
  
"Oh, god. Oh, God. Ok, he has friends down 86th street. Oh, god...."  
  
Zeta realized that was the last of the information he was going to get for now. Still, he hadn't found her. Trying to release the raw angry feeling that gnawed at his circuits, he threw the man behind him, against the elevator's housing unit. Not enough to kill or to break, but enough to cause pain. And right now, he wanted to cause a lot of it.  
  
--------------------------  
  
"This is not good. He's gotten reckless. Even when he bucked his programming for the first time, he wasn't reckless." Bennet wondered how long it had been since Zeta was here in the alleyway. A day? A few hours?  
  
West and Rush searched the scene for clues to where the synthoid might have gone next. Even with the wounded taken away to the hospital, the amount of chaos was easily discernable. Bent and twisted metal was everywhere, marking where people were thrown and held in place, like dead butterflies in a collection. The level of anger was almost tangible.  
  
"Well, he went that way, but no idea on what he was after. Besides looking for information on Ms. Rowan, of course." Rush frowned at the display. "Huh, that's strange. There's some faint acoustic readings, but I can't tell from where."  
  
Agent West didn't answer her. "West? Any clues?" He just kept staring up.  
  
"Um, Agent Rush? Is that the source of the noise?" He pointed up in the direction he gazed. And lo, hanging above them was a beleaguered gang member, held in place upside down by one foot, and a sign above him proclaiming "The Fool" in twisted metal. "Wonder what he means by 'The Fool'? I'd have thought he would consider all of these guys fools."  
  
"I think he means the fool as in the Tarot, Agent West." Bennet walked to the two agents.  
  
The looked at him quizzically.  
  
"What? My son's into that stuff." He shrugged.  
  
-------  
  
Author's notes: Although Zeta wrote The Fool, the actual card he's referring to is The Hanged Man, which usually has the man upside down. In this case, the man is The Fool because he gave Zeta answers, and the Hanged Man is a subconscious knowledge that for his vigilance, he's suspending his electronic soul-making him a quite a bit of a sadist. 


	6. She's my cocaine

Bennet didn't want to admit anything, but he was seriously confused by the Infiltration Unit's line of thought. Why was he following the lines of an archaic divinatory system to find Ro? Had some wires been crossed by that electromagnetic pulse the security cameras had picked up?  
  
The one dubbed as the Fool had led them to another gang member, a minor leader. He had been in much worse shape than the first. Zeta had the courteousness to call an ambulance for his victim, but it still didn't change what he had done. Looking at the large dent on the side of an elevator's housing, Bennet was more determined than ever to bring the synthoid in. He was even more dangerous than he had ever been as a weapon for the government- this was something with unlimited arsenal and a growing sadistic streak.  
  
The synthoid was no longer a machine wanting to be human. He was a living demon.  
  
---------  
  
Finding Desudo was easy among the thugs and scum of 36th street; they surrounded his headquarters like a raging sea. And like any body of water, you had to get your feet wet to get anywhere. But even for him, fighting wave after wave had gotten tiring. He needed a day to rest, even though he worried how long Ro could last.  
  
He checked into a motel on the edge of the gang territory, not caring of the stares he got from the staff or the loiterers. He pushed his was through the few women who offered to show him a good time to his shabby room, locking the door behind him.  
  
He sat on the bed, shaking, feeling much like an addict going through a withdrawal. Ro was hi cocaine, giving him a silent buzz of joy and protection. With her around, he avoided finding out how horrible humanity really was. Now, without her, he had had become immersed and it had changed him.  
  
He lay down, trying to focus on shutting down. But Ro invaded his thoughts, his programming, his circuits and his electronic soul. He even tried to postulate what it would be like if he were human too, and be able to give her the things that he'd never be able to get from this cold metallic body- love, happiness and an excuse not run anymore. It was a dream he could live with and cherish-  
  
"Zee?"  
  
Somewhere in the white expanse of his thought appeared Ro. "Zee, where are you? One minute I'm in..that place, and next I'm standing here talking to you. And why am I naked, but in a rated G way? Why do I not really care?"  
  
"I don't think we're anywhere. I think we're not actually talking to each other physically, at least. And if you notice, I'm naked too. Or my hologram is, at least."  
  
"Trust me, I'm trying not to. So we're talking telepathically? I don't recalling you being able to do this before. I sure as hell can't." She looked around the white. "This is almost scarier than where I really am." She whispered.  
  
"Ro, don't worry, I'm coming for you. Just hold on a little longer, please. If they do anything to you, I promise-" He clenched his jaw, biting back anymore words.  
  
"Zee? Zee, I've never seen you this angry before. But you've got to stay away! We worked so hard to keep you free, and these guys will use you for scrap! Please, Zee-" She was cut from saying anything more as he put a finger to her lips.  
  
"As I said, I'm coming for you. And nothing is going to stop me. Understand?" Ro looked into his eyes and suddenly saw the anger that burned behind them.  
  
"Zee?"  
  
----  
  
He sat up from the bed, all his sensors screaming, but he was alone in the tiny hotel room, bathed in the orange light of a setting sun. Checking his output levels, he found himself fully recharged, and everything running at optimum efficiency. Reviewing his options, he figured that Ro would be safer if he didn't try to barge in like he did before- it would also keep from wasting any energy he'd need to get her out of there.  
  
He checked the time on his internal clock. Strange, it had only been hour since he checked in. Normally it took a few hours at least to be able to get these levels of recharge. But he didn't question it.  
  
He had to question, though, when he had found the knife he had garnered had become a full length sword. The thick short blade had been hammered out into a long curved blade, much thinner and sharper than before, as he noted touching the tip nearly sliced his finger off. So it wasn't magic, but he had no recollection of even thinking about doing such a thing. He found, though, that the small hammer in his arsenal matched the larger hammer dents. His fingers fit exactly the grooved blade.  
  
He admitted it was anachronistic, but a physical weapon gave him comfort. Now all he had to do was to keep himself on using it on people..  
  
But where was the fun in that? 


	7. from apes to men, from men to gods

Gone, Part 7: from apes to men, from men, to gods.  
  
Zeta opened up the bag of supplies he had managed to procure in the last hour, both through legal and illegal channels, and began to get to work. First came the black IR absorption paint, which he coated his entire body with. This served two purposes- to make him harder to track and less visible if he ever was spotted without his hologram on. Metal stayed cleaner, but made him stand out badly.  
  
After coating most of his body in the paint, he set about on the second task, which was the most difficult. Working quickly, Zeta removed the metal that served as the exoskeleton for his head. He had been considering doing his even before Ro was kidnapped, but now it was essential. Ignoring the internal structure that now remained in place, he took the titanium shell in his hands and began to mold it to a rounder shape. When both the back and front were the shape he desired, he cut away two small holes in the front, then bent the metal until it formed a proper nose bridge. Then, with the utmost care, he replaced the exoskeleton (not before rearranging some things among the internal structure) and sealed it shut. Then he picked up the lower jaw he had made and connected it to the mouth machinations. Only then did he pause to judge his work in the mirror.  
  
It wasn't perfect, but much better than he had postulated. He now had what looked like a human skull with white eyes for a head. Perfect for the next step, which had just finished setting on the counter next to his tools.  
  
The latex was a little hard to stretch over his head, but it needed to be this tough if he wanted it to last past tonight. Taking his time, Zeta carefully put in place,, before gluing it down. He carefully smoothed the flame-retardant strands that made up his hair and eyebrows, then smiled. It wasn't really a smile, for his didn't have the time or the parts to motorize the skin to create true expression, but that was for the hologram was for. But now, if Bennet or anyone else scanned him, he would like the hologram he wore. He'd had to rearrange the eyebrows later, but now the scowled look on his face suit him just fine.  
  
Zeta, no Zee, for that was what he truly was now, pulled on the black bulletproof trench coat he had gotten, and attached the sword to his waist. If one looked too closely at his body, they would notice the lack of a midsection, and odd hips that jutted slightly from the coat, but he passed well for a human.  
  
He would rejoice later. Right now, he was only thinking of one purpose; to save his Rosalie.  
  
-----  
  
Zee scanned the apartment complex below him, as he reworked the wiring in his right shoulder. After he had taken IU7's shoulder rotator cuff, he had studied the differences between his design and the IU7's, and came across a design flaw in himself that they had fixed in the later models. When he was finished, even the foot thick ceiling of the penthouse wouldn't cause problems.  
  
"Zeta, don't do it. You've caused enough destruction already. Let the police save Miss Rowan." He turned his head to face Bennet.  
  
"I'm sorry, you must have the wrong person. My name's not Zeta." He turned his gaze back to the sentries that lined the rooftop.  
  
West looked through the holoviewer. "Sir, I think we may have made a mistake." He handed the holoviewer to his superior. "Take a look."  
  
Bennet scowled and snatched it from West's outstretched hand. Sure enough, the coat, the face and the sword appeared through the green lenses. Who was this? And where was Zeta?  
  
Then he noticed that the viewer's sensors were blurry the lower he looked. Lowering the lenses, he recognized that the foot belonged to a synthoid, not a human. The black coating was probably some sort of radio buffer. "Zeta, I'm not sure what you have done to yourself, but If you don't stop this insanity, I will let Rush open fire on you."  
  
The synthoid stood slowly, and glanced over his shoulder. "My name is Zee." And with that, he stepped off the ledge.  
  
Bennet, West and Rush could only look on helplessly as Zee landed on the roof of the heavily guarded apartment complex. "We'd best get our own agents down there! If Zee- Zeta has his way, there won't be a single person left in that building left to arrest!"  
  
-----  
  
His programming had all but crashed to keep him from killing everyone that came near him after he landed gracefully from above. If he had time to go over his situation, he would wonder if a doctor might call this multiple personality disorder. But with his Holy Grail within reach, he was not about to waste time on personal problems.  
  
He ripped off the housing of the elevator's mechanics, tossing the entire structure like papier-mâché. As he dove down the shaft, several laser blasts flew around him, but missed completely. When he reached the 6th floor, he grabbed the side of the wall and swung against the doors. They barely budged, but that was expected. Mr. Desudo didn't like visitors, and he probably wasn't the first to try this way. But he was first non-human. Digging into the crack of the door, he grunted (how human..) as he bent back one of the doors with his hand and pushed in the other with his feet. Satisfied that the hole was big enough, he climbed through.  
  
And came face to face with a gun.  
  
------  
  
Desudo was nothing like Zee had expected. Instead of a gangster or gang junkie like his cohorts, Desudo was middle-aged, balding and overweight. He look more like a pencil pusher than crime lord. He didn't look like he even know how to hold a gun. Zee frowned, then noticed the safety was still on. He grabbed the gun and crushed it nonchalantly, leaving the man holding a ball of sparking electronics.  
  
"H-how did you get this far? I read your specs! Those doors a tensile strength of two tons! You aren't built to deal with even one!"  
  
Zee picked the man up by the lapels of his coat. "The evolving robot, that's me." He brought the man in close. "Where. Is. SHE?"  
  
Desudo pointed to the back door of the plush lobby. Zee dropped the sniveling man, and strode to the door. It was dark, but he heard breathe of someone asleep. He stepped in, relieved it was all over.  
  
The doorframe became a net of electric current, trapping Zeta. His limited pain sensors screamed.  
  
Desudo strode over to the synthoid. "Now I have a new doll and ultimate weapon. Even your limited evolution can't deal with 12,000 volts of direct current. Looks like your little Lancelot ploy failed."  
  
Zee's eyes burned red with hatred. "Ro." He stuttered through the shock.  
  
"Will be staying right where she is. She's a pretty a little thing. And I'll bet she'll fight a lot less now that I have you. Maybe in time she'll even come to accept it."  
  
Zee's programming went berserk. Grabbing the sword at his side, he sliced either side of the door, blowing the circuitry. He stumbled into the darkened room, twisting and landing on his back. He crackled still with electricity, which made it difficult to move. The sword clattered out of his hand and into the darkness.  
  
Desudo grabbed a pistol and aimed at the synthoid's head. He cocked it, aimed, and squeezed the trigger-  
  
From the darkness, Rosalie Rowan charged holding Zee's sword. Before he could even swing the gun up, she drove the point into his stomach. He screamed and slumped against the wall.  
  
Ro stood for a moment in the doorway. Zee could see the bruises on her face and legs where the tattered silk she wore didn't cover her. She looked at him and smiled weakly before her knees buckled under her. He caught her just before she hit the floor. She looked up at him and gently touched his face. "You feel...different."  
  
Zeta smiled softly at her, and cupped her hand with his. Then he realized something odd. He could feel her, more than he ever could before. He shouldn't be able to even feel her through the latex. "And you can smile. Wow." She traced his lips. He would have frown if it didn't feel so nice. Four hours ago he couldn't make a proper smile. What had happened?  
  
He'd wonder later. Right now he bundled Ro up into his arms and spirited her away, just before the NSA and SWAT burst in on the offices of Robert Desudo.  
  
-------  
  
"So your think that the nano-whatevers in the IR paint and the latex mixed, and when that voltage went through you, it connected with your own hardware? Weird." Ro sat on the bed, looking on as Zee pulled on molded latex feet. As she recovered, Zee had experimented with the mixture he had inadvertently created, and had set about creating a more human-like body coating out of it. She touched her face lightly; the bruises had just started to fade.  
  
"Yes, it seems so. Look how quickly it attaches to the current skin." He lifted a pant leg to show the mixture melding together and erasing the seam of the two parts, creating a whole. "But it doesn't really matter now."  
  
"Why not? This is fantastic!"  
  
He walked over to her and touched her face lightly. "Ro, you need to think about what happened to yourself. Are you sure you don't want to see a doctor?"  
  
Ro lay her head on his shoulder. "Zee, a doctor isn't going to change what happened to me. I think the only way I'm going to get over it is if I stay right here with you."  
  
He stroked her hair softly as she snuggled into his neck. Drawing her into a hug, he looked down at her, happy to see a content smile on her face. Suddenly drawn by some unknown power, he bent down and touched his own lip to hers. A kiss, his first.  
  
Slowly she responded to his intentions, drawing him even closer, leading him farther. He pulled back, allowing her air, but she held onto his shoulders, looking at him with pleading eyes. "Will...will you stay? Make sure I don't have nightmares?"  
  
Zeta stroked her face with his thumb. "Of course." And he drew he back into the kiss, and falling back on the bed. ------  
  
Authoress's notes: Wheee! Finished! Now all that's left is the epilogue and that's only going to get published if I get some reviews, pluuuuuzeeee! I live off feedback, and right now I'm dying a horrible death. I wanna know if you guys liked it at all, and if I should draw something for it (eh, eh?). Tell me what you liked, disliked, hated, adored, etc. And the epilogue makes up for all the seriousness, I promise. 


	8. Epilogue mind candy

6 months later:  
  
"Zee, we got a problem. Major problem." Ro called from the bathroom.  
  
"What?!?" Zee ran into bathroom, in full battle mode, expecting the worst. Instead, he found Ro holding a small strip of paper, looking quite dumbly at it. "THIS!" She waved the paper in his face.  
  
"It appears to be a piece of paper with a plus sign on it. I don't see the inherent danger of it."  
  
"Maybe if you saw what it's from." She motioned to the bathroom counter. There sat a box with the words "Home Pregnancy Kit" written on the side.  
  
"Oh. Ro, are you pregnant?"  
  
She smacked him with the box. "Yes! And that's a big problem. How are we supposed to run while I'm retaining water?" She hugged herself.  
  
Zee held her to him. "Ro, I'm sorry. This is all because of what happened back when you got kidnapped. I keep telling you if you stop running with me and settle down-" He stopped as she shoved out of his hold and jabbed at her finger at his chest.  
  
"This is your fault, yes, but not how you think. Look, it's been six months since you saved me back there, right? And up until a month ago, I was perfectly fine, menstrual cycle wise. Do you know what that means, tin man?"  
  
Zeta shook his head.  
  
"There's only one person I've had a roll in the hay with since then."  
  
Zeta looked around, confused. "I don't recall any hay on our journey, let alone you rolling around in it."  
  
Ro slapped her forehead. "You know, doing the horizontal mambo?" "You haven't gone dancing..."  
  
"Playing Mountie?"  
  
"Finding Waldo!"  
  
"Going at it like strays!"  
  
"Fine, fine. Ok, tin man, what do you call what we were doing last night?"  
  
Zeta's face lit up. "Oh! You mean interco-"  
  
WHAM! Zeta received a full face of trashcan. "YES, YOU OVERSIZED VIBRATOR!"  
  
Zeta pulled the trashcan off his face. "Oh. Now I get it." His circuits finally got around what she had been trying to tell him. "But Ro, it's physically impossible for me to be the genetic donor for an embryo. I mean, I don't even have a genetic code." Ro kissed him. "Don't ask me. But from all that I can tell, I'm going to be a mother-"  
  
Zeta kissed her back. "And I'm going to be a father." He pulled her into a hug on the bed.  
  
After a few minutes, Zee move Ro off him and stood up. "Hold on a sec. I want to go ask someone a question."  
  
"Uh, Zee, the phone's that way." Ro pointed to opposite side of the bed.  
  
"But Bennet's this way." And with that, Zeta jerked the door to the hotel room open. And in spilled Bennet, West and Rush.  
  
Ro let out a ear splitting screech. "How long have they been there?!?"  
  
West smiled sheepishly. "Uh, congratulations?"  
  
Ro screamed again.  
  
"Agent Bennet, since you say the government knows more about me than I do, do you have an answer on how this is even possible?"  
  
"First off, Zeta, you shouldn't even be able to interact with human like that in the first place." Bennet picked himself up off the ground, avoiding eye contact by dusting off non-existent particles. "Secondly, your programming has been evolving even past what Selig had in mind for you. He'd like to see you as soon as possible, actually to see if your evolution can be used to further robotics study. Maybe he can explain this new development in your hardware." Bennet pulled two tickets out of his coat, and a video phone. "Your plane leaves tomorrow. That phone has a secure direct line to Selig. He expects a call from you with the next four hours. Congratulations, Zeta, you got what you've been looking for."  
  
Zee and Ro looked blankly at the agent for a moment, before Ro accepted the tickets and the phone. "Uh, thank you?"  
  
Rush walked over and put a hand on Ro's shoulder. "I have to admit, I misjudged the two of you. I hope you can forgive me."  
  
Ro smiled. "Yeah, I think we can do that."  
  
West looked over at Zeta. "See, I told you that you'd get the girl." He spun around on the ball of his heel. "Though, man, I've heard of plug and play, but this is ridiculous! Wait 'til Lee hears about this!"  
  
Zeta cocked his head in confusion. "Plug and play?" He thought about the reference, and Ro's word game. "Oh, I get it now."  
  
Ro crossed her arms. "You get that one, and you can't figure out 'horizontal mambo'?"  
  
Rush laughed. "Ro, he's a machine. Of course he's going to get it. It's like 'mounting the hard drive'."  
  
"Or 'merge sorting'." Zeta piped in.  
  
"Enough, Zee." Ro growled.  
  
Even Bennet was amused. "Surely even a synthoid would understand about 'formatting the floppy'."  
  
"Lalala, I can't hear you!" Ro stuck her fingers in her ears, desperately hoping the torture would end soon.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Dr. Selig?"  
  
The older man looked up from his work to the screen. "Ah! Zeta, I take it? It's hard to tell with your adjustments. I was looking forward to talking to you. I hear you've been looking for me?"  
  
The synthoid smiled. "Yes sir, I have. For quite a long time, actually. And now your expertise will be even more necessary, I think."  
  
Selig raised an eyebrow. "I heard you've been evolving quite a bit in the past couple of the months. Have you come across something new?"  
  
Zee scratched his head, perfectly mimicking human embarrassment. Selig was thrilled. For a machine to show that much human emotion was indeed a great leap for the robotics world. "Uh, you could say that. As best we can figure, I'm going to be a father. I didn't even think it was possible, but I'm the only possible candidate."  
  
Selig stared at the screen in shock. He'd never suspect the evolution of the synthoid's programming would ever adapt for those types of situations. He tried not to even think of the ethics involved in such a predicament. "You're not joking, are you?"  
  
Zeta shook his head vigorously. "Ro says I'm horrible at jokes, and such a subject is nothing to joke about, or so she says."  
  
Selig let out a soft laugh. "That was rhetorical question, Zeta. But we'll discuss this at length tomorrow when you get here. I hope the lucky girl is coming with you?" Zeta nodded. "Good. Now, unfortunately, I have to get going, but we'll have more time for this later." Zeta nodded again, and then severed the connection.  
  
Dr. Selig sat back in his chair, trying to wrap his mind around the news.  
  
His assistant, Ms. Donnoso, came in with the cup of tea he'd asked for earlier. "Sir? Sir, are you alright?"  
  
"I guess." He shook his head, smiling. "I just found out I'm to be a grandfather, of sorts." He accepted the cup of tea.  
  
"Grandfather? I didn't realize you had any children, sir."  
  
"Oh, I have many children, Andrea. But this one's quite special to me. Very special indeed." He smiled softly, holding back a laugh.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Somewhere, far away from any of the respective parties, a star shot across the sky, leaving a blue trail for all to see, before it disappeared into the dawn.  
  
Fin!  
  
Notes: 1. This epilogue was actually written before the last chapter of the story. So there might be a little inconsistently.  
  
2. Bullet proof trench coat stolen from Gunsmith cats.  
  
3. Sword & knife stolen from Appleseed.  
  
4. Innuendos stolen from the big list of CS majors' euphemisms. *shrug* they worked so well..  
  
5. Angel stolen from Alan Moore' Promethea. Good read for anyone interested in the occult.  
  
6. Zee and Ro stolen The Zeta Project. Don't sue me, it's your fault for making such a good show then pulling it.  
  
I apologize to those who prefer Zee in his natural, non violent form. My thoughts are that if Zee was truly becoming more 'human', he'd have to deal with the hatred that broils under the surface of tranquility. Plus, it was easier to muck with his head.  
  
The Arthurian legend and Tarot came out of various discussions I had with friends about magick and the work of the occultists. And the spelling of magick is stolen from Aleister Crowley.  
  
Feel free to post this story in any archive, as long as I am given some credit.  
  
Yes, I have a dirty mind. Get over it. 


End file.
